JP2005124045A - Digital camera - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sound recordable digital camera by which sound can be efficiently collected by a simple mechanism. <P>SOLUTION: A first microphone 10 is set on the circumference surface 5c of a lens barrel 5. When a lens hood 9 for limiting incident light rays from outside the angle of field is attached to an objective lens 6, sound from an object of shooting is reflected by the inner face 9a of the lens hood 9 and is received by the first microphone 10. In this way, sound of the object of shooting can be efficiently obtained by the first microphone 10. It is further preferable to provide a second microphone 19 for obtaining sound of a photographer. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a digital camera capable of recording.

    Some digital cameras that take still images with a CCD image sensor and store the image data in a memory have a function of recording appropriate messages as audio data before and after the shooting. Recently, digital cameras that can shoot not only still images but also moving images have been commercialized, and sound from the subject side can be recorded while moving images are being captured.

  In order to obtain audio data, the digital camera has a built-in microphone. To record the photographer's message, it is sufficient to incorporate a microphone at an appropriate location on the camera body. For example, a microphone is provided on the front side of the camera body to pick up sound from the subject when shooting a movie. There is a need. The camera described in Patent Document 1 is pivotally mounted at the front end portion of the lens barrel so that the camera drive sound or the like is not picked up as noise, and is not directly built into the camera body. A microphone is built into the lens cap.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 09-009122

    Although the technique described in Patent Document 1 has an advantage that vibration sound from the camera body is not picked up as noise, a structure for attaching the lens cap to the front end of the lens barrel, A mechanism for positioning the lens cap so that the microphone is correctly directed toward the subject side is required, which complicates the structure and increases the cost. Also, if a microphone is incorporated in the lens cap, a sufficient sound collection effect cannot be obtained, and the volume that can be picked up by the microphone tends to decrease as the subject distance increases. Furthermore, since the lens cap remains open at the tip of the lens barrel at the time of shooting, it can not be said that it is not very preferable in terms of design, such as the lens cap getting in the way when operating the camera, etc. There is also a disadvantage in terms of operability.

  The present invention has been made in consideration of the above, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a digital camera that can efficiently pick up and record sound from the subject side, and is advantageous in terms of appearance design and operability. To do.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the digital camera of the present invention, a first microphone is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the lens barrel fed out from the camera body to restrict light rays from outside the photographing field angle from entering the photographing lens. When the lens hood is attached, the sound from the subject side is reflected by the inner surface of the lens hood and received by the first microphone to enhance the sound collection effect.

  It is also effective to provide a second microphone on the back side of the camera body for receiving the voice produced by the photographer so that the photographer's message can be recorded easily. Further, when the digital camera can be switched between the still image shooting mode and the moving image shooting mode, it is effective to enable the first microphone in conjunction with the switching to the moving image shooting mode.

  When the lens barrel is fixed to the camera body and incorporated in a fixed barrel provided with the lens hood mounting portion so as to be movable in the optical axis direction, the lens barrel is retracted into the fixed barrel. The first microphone is stored in the storage position inside the fixed cylinder, and the first microphone is movable between the voice acquisition position protruding from the outer peripheral surface of the lens barrel and the storage position. In order to protect the microphone and improve the appearance design, it is also preferable to move the tube from the voice acquisition position to the storage position in conjunction with the tube being retracted into the fixed tube.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a digital camera that is simple in appearance with a simple mechanism and capable of recording voices collected efficiently.

  In FIG. 1 showing the appearance of a digital camera, a strobe light emission window 3 and a fixed tube 4 are provided on the front surface of a camera body 2. A lens barrel 5 that can be moved back and forth in the direction of the optical axis is incorporated in the fixed barrel 4 and is extended to a use position as shown in the drawing. Further, when the power switch (not shown) is turned off, the front end surface 5a of the lens barrel 5 is retracted to a position where it substantially coincides with the front end surface 4a of the fixed cylinder 4 to be in a retracted state. The lens barrel 5 includes a lens group 6 constituting a zoom lens. When a zooming operation is performed, the zoom lens moves within the lens barrel 5 to perform zooming, and the lens barrel itself does not move. Also, when focusing is performed, the focusing lens moves inside the lens barrel, and the lens barrel itself does not move.

  Screw threads are formed on the inner periphery 4b (see FIG. 2) and the lens hood end outer periphery 9b of the fixed cylinder, and the lens hood 9 can be attached by screwing. The lens hood 9 restricts unnecessary light rays from outside the shooting angle of view from entering the lens group 6 to prevent ghosts and flares. Since the lens hood 9 is attached to the fixed cylinder 4, the lens barrel 5 is in a state in which the outer periphery 5c is wrapped by the lens hood 9 even at the protruding position. The lens barrel can be retracted to the retracted position even with the lens hood 9 attached to the fixed cylinder.

  The lens barrel 5 is provided with a first microphone 10 so as to protrude from the outer peripheral surface 5c. As shown in FIG. 2, the first microphone 10 is rotatably incorporated in the lens barrel 5 by attaching a microphone protection cover 11 with a shaft 12, and is biased toward the illustrated voice acquisition position by a spring 13. Has been. When the lens barrel 5 is moved to the retracted position, the microphone protection cover 11 comes into contact with the inner wall 4c of the fixed cylinder and is pushed into the retracted position against the bias of the spring 13. A signal line 14 from the first microphone 10 is drawn along the lens barrel 5 toward the camera body, and an A / D conversion circuit 43 (see FIG. 4) connected to an audio data processing circuit 44 (see FIG. 4) as will be described in detail later. 4).

  The lens hood 9 is supplied as a dedicated accessory for the digital camera and has a parabolic shape as a whole. When it is used, as shown by a broken line in FIG. 2, the sound from the subject side is reflected by the parabolic hood inner surface 9a and efficiently directed to the first microphone 10. In the illustrated example, one first microphone 10 is provided above the outer peripheral surface 5c of the lens barrel, but may be provided on the left and right or below the outer peripheral surface 5c as long as they are on substantially the same circumference. It may be provided.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a release button 17 that is pressed at the time of shooting, and an operation unit 18 that is operated by the photographer when performing shooting mode switching and various setting operations are provided on the upper surface 2d of the camera body. A second microphone 19 is provided from the upper surface 2d to the back surface (not shown). The second microphone 19 is used when the photographer records a message or the like. The signal line 20 (see FIG. 4) connected to the second microphone is connected to an A / D conversion circuit 43 (see FIG. 4) connected to the audio data processing circuit 44 (see FIG. 4), like the first microphone.

  On the back of the camera body (not shown), there are provided a liquid crystal panel 21 on which a photographed image is displayed, a recording button 22 used when acquiring sound, and a power switch 23.

  FIG. 4 shows an outline of the electrical configuration of the digital camera. A CCD image sensor 30 is disposed behind the photographing lens 6. The CCD image sensor 30 converts an optical subject image into an electrical imaging signal and outputs it by driving a CCD driver 31. The imaging signal is amplified to an appropriate level by the amplifier 32, and then digitally converted by the A / D conversion circuit 33 to generate image data, which is input to the image data processing circuit 34. The image data processing circuit 34 generates a video signal based on the input image data and outputs it to the liquid crystal control circuit 35. The liquid crystal control circuit 35 drives the liquid crystal panel 21 and displays an image based on the image data on the liquid crystal panel 21.

  The system control unit 36 includes a microcomputer including a CPU, and controls the above-described photographing process and image display process. When the release button 17 is pressed, a command is transmitted to the memory control unit 40 and image data is recorded in the memory medium 41. Further, the system control unit 36 controls the operation of the first microphone 10 and the second microphone 19 via the microphone drive circuit 42. Audio information obtained from each microphone is digitized by the A / D conversion circuit 43 and recorded in the memory medium 41 via the audio data processing circuit 44, the system control unit 36, and the memory control unit 40.

  The system control unit 36 sends a command according to the setting state by the operation unit 18 to the microphone drive circuit 42, thereby selectively operating the first microphone 10 and the second microphone 19. In the normal still image shooting mode, only the second microphone 19 is enabled, and a message spoken by the photographer while pressing the recording button 22 within a predetermined time after recording the still image data is displayed on the still image. The image data is recorded in the memory medium 41 in association with the image data. In the moving image shooting mode, only the first microphone 10 is enabled during the moving image shooting period, and the sound from the subject side can be recorded in the memory medium 41 in association with the moving image data. Note that the second microphone 19 may also be activated under the moving image shooting mode.

  Hereinafter, the operation of the above configuration will be described. First, when the power switch 23 is turned on in the still image shooting mode and the moving image shooting mode, the lens barrel 5 is extended from the retracted position to the use position. At that time, the first microphone 10 is moved from the storage position to the voice acquisition position by the bias of the spring 13.

  When the lens barrel 5 is extended to the use position, the autofocus device is activated, and the focus lens is moved and adjusted in the lens barrel while evaluating the contrast of the image based on the image pickup signal from the CCD image sensor 30 to adjust the focus. Is done. The captured image is displayed on the liquid crystal panel 21 as a through image. When the power switch 23 is turned on in the reproduction mode, the lens barrel 5 remains in the retracted position, and a reproduction menu is displayed on the liquid crystal panel 23.

  When the still image shooting mode is set, when the release button 17 is pressed, the image data obtained at that time is written into the memory medium 41. When the recording button 22 is pressed after recording, the message can be recorded using the second microphone 19. The audio data is recorded in the memory medium 41 in association with the image data.

  On the other hand, when the moving image shooting mode is set, shooting / recording is started by pressing the release button 17 and is continued until the moving image shooting stop button provided on the operation unit 18 is operated. If the release button 17 is pressed during moving image shooting, the image data of the still image at that time can also be stored in the memory medium 41.

  At the time of moving image shooting, the first microphone 10 operates to collect sound from the subject side. Since sound from the subject side is directed to the first microphone 10 by the inner surface 9a of the lens hood having a parabolic shape, the sound is efficiently collected and recorded. The recorded sound is recorded in the memory medium 41 in association with the image data.

  After moving image shooting, the photographer's message can also be recorded using the second microphone 19 as necessary. Since the audio data is recorded in the memory medium 41 in association with the image data of the recorded moving image, the sound can be reproduced together with the moving image at the time of reproduction.

  When the power switch 23 is turned off, the operation of the CCD image sensor 30 and the liquid crystal panel 21 is stopped, and the lens barrel 5 is retracted from the use position to the retracted position. In the middle of the movement of the lens barrel 5 to the retracted position, the fixed barrel 4 pushes the first microphone 10 against the bias of the spring 13, so that the lens barrel 5 is reliably retracted to the retracted position.

  In this embodiment, the example in which the lens barrel 5 stops only at the two positions of the retracted position and the use position has been described. However, the lens barrel 5 may be stopped at a plurality of positions according to the zooming operation. In this case, as the lens barrel 5 is moved to the tele-side position, the sound can be efficiently acquired when the first microphone 10 approaches the parabolic focus of the lens hood inner surface 9a.

  In the present embodiment, the fixed cylinder 4 protrudes from the front surface of the camera body 2, but the fixed cylinder 4 is not necessarily required. When the fixed cylinder 4 is not used, only the opening is provided in the camera body 2, the lens barrel 5 is advanced and retracted through the opening, and the lens hood 9 is attached to the edge of the opening.

  In the present embodiment, the first microphone 10 is moved between the voice acquisition position and the storage position by the spring 13, but the first microphone 10 may be moved by an electric drive source such as a motor.

1 is an external perspective view of a digital camera embodying the present invention with a lens barrel extended to a use position. It is sectional drawing of the principal part of the digital camera which implemented this invention. 1 is an external perspective view of a digital camera embodying the present invention with a lens barrel retracted. FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the electric constitution of a digital camera.

Explanation of symbols

2 Camera body 4 Fixed cylinder 5 Lens barrel 5c Outer peripheral surface 6 Shooting lens 8 Lens barrel 9 Lens hood 9a Lens hood inner surface 10 First microphone 19 Second microphone

Claims (5)

In a digital camera capable of recording, while a lens barrel incorporating a taking lens is extended forward of the camera body during shooting,
When a first microphone is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the lens barrel and a lens hood that restricts light rays from outside the shooting angle of view from entering the photographic lens is mounted, the sound from the subject side is reflected on the inner surface of the lens hood. A digital camera that is reflected and received by the first microphone.   2. The digital camera according to claim 1, wherein a second microphone for receiving a voice uttered by the photographer is provided on the back of the camera body.   3. The digital camera according to claim 2, wherein the digital camera can be switched between a still image shooting mode and a moving image shooting mode, and the first microphone is activated in conjunction with switching to the moving image shooting mode.   The lens barrel is incorporated inside a fixed barrel fixed to a camera body and provided with a mounting portion for the lens hood so as to be movable in the optical axis direction. When the lens barrel is retracted into the fixed barrel, the first microphone The digital camera according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein is stored in a storage position inside the fixed cylinder.   The first microphone is movable between the voice acquisition position protruding from the outer peripheral surface of the lens barrel and the storage position, and from the voice acquisition position protruding in conjunction with the lens barrel retracting into the fixed cylinder. 5. The digital camera according to claim 4, wherein the digital camera is moved to an immersed storage position.

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